Link in the chain - September

It's reveal day at Card Chain Challenge - my card has gone to Greta in Oregon this month. I often go with a one layer card if I'm airmailing it but somehow my brain didn't want to go that way this time!

As usual, we had lots of choice - I went with the sketch and the theme of "things with wheels".

Things are starting to feel pretty autumnal so I thought I'd pull out an old set and haul some giant pumpkins! The truck and pumpkins are separate images, I cut a slit along the line of the truckbed with a scalpel and tucked the pumpkins inside.

The green is part of a gel print that was out on my desk, the swirly sky is inked over a stencil and I hand drew the birds and grass tuft to fit the sketch. I did struggle a bit to get the word die to cut right through where the truck is stuck on to the background but got there in the end - I thought an eclipse sentiment would suit this!

Stamps:
Happy Harvest (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Premium weight copy paper

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black, Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Stitched frame dies (Paper Rose)
Copic markers
Fibres stencil (Visible Image)
Phrases Set 2 dies (Spellbinder)
Fineliner
Momento marker (Bamboo Leaves)

Thanks for stopping by! There's still time to sign up for the October chain if you fancy it - make and mail one card, get a hand crafted card from somebody else!

On Safari

Shabneez is setting our challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week and as it's World Tourism Day she'd like to see something from another country or culture featuring on our cards. Hop over to see where the DT members have travelled to this week!

I decided to go on safari - camera only, no guns! I've never understood the complusion to chase wild animals and kill them, tracking them down and taking pictures is much easier to understand!

As my zebra pair dates from 2009 and Retro Rubber has an "anything goes" challenge at the moment I'm linking up there as well.

I die cut a circle in scrap paper and placed it on the card (I find alignment easiest if I place the solid circle exactly where I want it and then pop the "frame" back round it). Stamped the image, masked it and inked the background before taking the masks away and adding just a touch of shading with a couple of grey Copics and stamping the stentiment.

Stamps:
Zebra Pair (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukinko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door)

Other:
Copic markers (Cool Grey 1 and 3)
Nestabilies circle dies to cut an aperture for masking.

Here's this week's cover sheet to share if you'd like it!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

I've got your number!

Ruth has set the challenge for us over at Daring Cardmakers this week - she'd like to see numbers on our projects as her son celebrates a significant birthday soon!

I wanted to have a go at a reductive painting technique that featured in a recent challenge at Splitcoast Stampers and thought this might be a good opportunity. I used Tim Holtz alphabet masks that I've had forever and a day over a shaving foam background left over from a play with the oxidised shaving foam technique. A layer of black acrylic paint and there you go - a dramatic background!

The quirky Party Puffin is always fun and he's useful for cards where people don't have specific hobbies or anything to theme things around. I gave him a bit of a "halo" with a white pencil to reduce the risk of him disappearing against the background.

Stamps:
Party Puffin (Crafty Individuals)
Sentiment words from Say It Loud (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Shaving foam piece done on preimum weight copy paper

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
White pencil
Stitched rectangles A6 size dies (Paper Rose)
Black acrylic paint
Pinflair glue gel

Thanks for stopping by!

Rosemary is for remembrance

Dawn has set today's challenge over at Daring Cardmakers. Dawn lost her dad recently and so would like to see cards representing special thoughts of someone. It could be a card in memory of someone, or one to let someone know they’re in your thoughts.

I had a plan for this and then found I needed to make a sympathy card for a friend who just lost her mum so my plan changed. Her mum loved her garden and the birds and butterflies that visit so this set seemed perfect.

I started by brushing on a very light coverage of blue ink from bottom left and then stamped the rosemary sprig several times to create the effect of the top of a bush. I used pencils to colour since I feel I have a bit more control in the very narrow spaces of the leaves than I have with Copics - three shades of green, two of purple and white. The tips of the stamens have dots of gold gel pen to finish them off.

Stamps:
Soothing Sympathy (Power Poppy)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Ivy, Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Gold gel pen
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Making a song and dance

As I had this dancing snowman out on my desk it seemed only right that I should join in with the current Lost Coast/Carmen’s Veranda challenge where the theme is “song and dance” and add another Christmas card to my stash.

I thought the Bubble Border would make a fun hillside for him! I heat embossed with white powder and blended a couple of Oxides inks over it then added a wee bit of shading with a couple of Copics and gave a few circles the Wink of Stella treatment for just a touch of festive glitz.

The snowman is stamped on the card base so his little arm waggle lines and scarf fringe are there. I coloured and fussy cut another one and stuck him on with some gel glue so he has a bit of dimension.

Stamps:
Bubble Border (Lost Coast Designs)
Dancing Snowman (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Frosty in the Pines and Compliments of the Season (both Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us - the sentiment set is available from Gina K though)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Versamark by Tsukineko
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough)

Other:
Bright white detail embossing powder by Wow
Copic markers
Clear Wink of Stella marker
Enamel Accents by Ranger 
Pinflair glue gel

Thanks for stopping by!

September elements

It's the first Friday of the month so of course that means an "elemental" challenge over at Daring Cardmakers. Ruth has chosen our inspiration this month - as ever, just choose at least three elements (colour scheme counts as one element) to kick start your project.


From the inspiration picture I chose a bird in a party hat, a balloon, circles and pastel colours.

I'm playing at Retro Rubber as well where the current challenge is a sketch. I've rotated it 180 degrees. It was not until I uploaded the picture that I realised I'd stuck the square in the wrong place really - it should have been low down for the rotated sketch! I hope the challenge police will go lightly on me, sketches are out of my confort zone!

I used my trusty piece of acetate with various sized circles die cut in it and brushed on inks for a pastel dotty background.

Stamps:
Owen the Owl (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us -  Owen is at least 10 years old!)
Balloon from Happy Today (Hero Arts, I've had the set at least five years, I think it's retired)
Sentimenet from Mini Memories (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us - set is copyright 2007)

Paper:
Bristol board
Scrap of smooth black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Versamark by Tsukineko 
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Spun Sugar)

Other:
Copic markers
Stitched frames dies (Paper Rose)
Detail white embossing powder
Crochet thread
Pinflair glue gel
Corner Chomper

Here's our inspiration if you would like to play along, we'd love to see you over at Daring Cardmakers!

Thanks for stopping by!

Link in the chain - August

Time for another reveal over at the Card Chain Challenge. This month my card has travelled to Dee in Kenya. Unbelievably I've been playing for a year now, last August was the first time I was a link in the chain. Fittingly enough, the card I received this time is from a first time player - Tina in Slovenia!

From the options on offer I chose the theme of water and loosely followed the sketch (rotated 180 degrees).

I got this lovely seahorse stamp as a gift last Christmas and I'm ashamed to say he's only just seeing ink now!

The seahorse is coloured with Copics and then masked so I could use a stencil and three Distress inks to give him a watery background, following the sketch for placement. I sponged the same inks through circles cut in a piece of acetate, again using the sketch - the third circle is invisible to the naked eye because of the splatter trailling the seahorse!

A simple sentiment and three tiny nail art gems for some sparkle finish it off.

Stamps:
Create Your Calm (Visible Image)
Sentiment from Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean)

Other:
Copic markers
Nail art gems
Fibres stencil (Visible Image)
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by!

Resist if you can

Nat has set the challenge for us over at Daring Cardmakers this week and she’d like to see a resist technique on our cards.

I’ve been meaning to have a go at Debossed Die Resist for a while so I pulled out a Hero Arts die I thought might work and got busy with a wax crayon and a couple of Brusho powders. I think it looks kind of like batik fabric.

I did an extra resist as well - after my fern and background were dry, I rubbed some microglaze onto the leaves and then spritzed and splattered Dylusions spray for some extra speckles.

Supplies:
Fancy Fern die (Hero Arts)
Watercolour paper
White crayon
Sentiment from Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Brusho (Leaf Green, Turquoise)
Dylusions spray (Vibrant Turquoise)
Judikins microglaze (now rebranded as Distress microglaze)

Thanks for stopping by!

Smiling snowmen!

Today, I'm delighted to be Guest Elf for the lovely Jo's Christmas Kickstart challenge! Each fortnight a new challenge launches and this time around we're getting inspired by the challenge blog's header:

Lots of things to work with there - snowman, mittens, hat, scarf, baubles and streamers, the colour scheme, stripes...

I sort of stuck to the overall colour scheme and then chose a jolly snowman, pearly circles inspired by the baubles and a glittter one as the texture made me think of the pompom on the header snowman's hat.

I have a piece of acetate with various circles die cut out of it tucked in to a container on my desk that's really useful for things like this - I just sponged Versamark and brushed on Perfect Pearls in various shades of green and blue. A pearl pen and some sequins added a bit of texture.

Stamps:
Dancing Snowman (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Merry Stamp 'n Cut (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board
Glitter card

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Versamark by Tukineko

Other:
Perfect Pearls by Ranger (Blue Raspberry, Turquoise, Sour Apple, Mint)
Copic markers
Pearl pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)
Sequins

We'd love to see you over at Christmas Kickstart - why not add a card or two to your stash?!

Under the sea

It's Svenja setting our challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week and she's sending us under the sea. There are extra virtual brownie points for an octopus. As I can always use extra brownie points I used it as an excuse to pull out this colour layering stamp that's only been used once or twice.

I liked the idea of an eight limbed creature sending hugs so this sentiment seemed perfect!

I stamped dark to light on the octopus (Dusty Concord first for the detailed layer and then a mix of the other two on the solid layer), using the MISTI so that I could clear emboss the whole octopus as a final step. That means it resists the ink for the stencilled water and the stamped weed/coral without having to worry about any masking.

This fits today's Free For All challenge on Splitcoast Stampers too - why not come play in both?!

Stamps:
Layering Octopus (Hero Arts)
Truly Appreciated (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord, Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Shadow ink by Hero Arts (Soft Granite)
Versamark by Tsukineko

Other:
Fibres stencil (Visible Image)
Clear embossing powder
Sequins
Corner Chomper
MISTI

Thanks for stopping by!